Welcome back. People who live in the Hermosa neighborhood know them for their amazing tacos and Mexican food. But they just recently won some accolades from the city’s prestigious food and wine festival, Chicago Gourmet. Tacotlan has received high praise and says it has the best quesabirria in Chicago. Joining us now is owner Jessica Purges. Thanks for coming in. Congratulations on your award. I want to talk to you about that a little bit more, but tell everybody, uh, what they can expect, and I want a little history on your restaurant. Yes. So tacotlan is an idea my father had. Um, I want to say about a little bit over six years ago. We. He had a restaurant that didn’t do so well over 25 years ago, and he decided to do it again in the building that he owns, and I wanted to help him with it. Did you grow up helping him in his other restaurants? Um, I grew up as a register. Whenever I wanted to, he would say, absolutely not. He never. She never helped. Um, all he did is wanted to see the money. And I think that continues to this day. That’s hilarious. And so now you’re partners? We are partners and have had great success. Yeah, we are. Um, during the pandemic, we, um, wanted to pivot from what we were currently doing, which is a no more taqueria, just tacos asada pastor. But now, um, we put our quesabirrias on There. And they took off during the pandemic. Okay, let’s take a look, cause you brought some of those. Tell. Explain to everybody what is a quesabirria? Yes. So traditionally, the birria, the meat is, um, like a stew. Think of. It’s made with goat. Okay. But we’re known, um, again, for making it with beef. So it is a crispy taco, um, that’s dipping the oil that it’s cooked in. Beef, cheese, onion, cilantro. And we’ve kind of twisted up. Wow. And then you’re doing something special here, too. Tell me about this is a grilled. A Mexican grilled cheese sandwich. Yes. So, um, a content creator came up with the idea of maybe having us do something different. So we, um, made a grilled cheese, put a twist on it. American cheese, Italian bread. And it has, um, birria inside of it. Wow. It’s very popular. Okay, so good. And then this empanada, is it. What is that? So it’s a quesadilla frita. Um, my mother would, uh, make these quesadillas a lot smaller. We like to exaggerate at Taco Plan, but, um, they used to be a lot smaller. Just like this. But we have, uh, opened it up, there’s cheese inside of it. And we put, uh, the either chicken, steak, onion. I mean, not onion, uh, lettuce, tomato, queso fresco, and then sour cream. Okay, very good. So this is just a little bit. And you also have some interesting drinks. What do We have here our sister, in honor of our mother, we have a casita in the back of the patio and she makes these. I was fresco with our whole team. Mango, cucumber, lime. So when it’s hot like today. Yes. This is absolutely perfect. Yes. You know, if it is. Hmm. Oh, this is, like, really refreshing, a fresh mango, isn’t it? We like to keep it very natural so we don’t add a bunch of junk to it. Yeah. Okay. Tell me how excited you are that you won this competition with Chicago Gourmet. How many different chefs were competing? There were about 10 chefs that were competing for best dressed, um, anything dish. Yes. And our. Our customers are amazing. I think I spam them on, um, emails and text and everything to vote for us, and they pull through. And we were able to give back to, uh, cookies for Kids. Cancer. Yeah. Because you took the money and you chose to give it to charity. And why in particular that charitable organization? Um, a lot of people don’t know that. As a first time parent, I would. I had a child who was born with neuroblastoma, which is a form of childhood cancer, and, uh, was very important for us to be able to give back to them. Okay. Which must make you feel great. Okay. Absolutely. In the meantime, if you wanna find her, not only can you go to the restaurant, but you’re Also gonna be at taste of Chicago next week. Next week we have a busy week. We have taste of Chicago. Hispanic, um, Heritage Month is coming up. So many good things that are going on. Great. And then again, Chicago Gourmet. You’re gonna be there on the 26th, so find us. Thank you. To Marcos Carrabajal from Carnitas Urapan, who invited us to participate. Very, very nice. Can’t wait to see you there. And your dad’s here, but he’s a little camera shy. Yes. Okay. But thank you for coming in. Thank you for sharing. I can’t wait to dig in. This is so delicious. You’re gonna love it. I know I’m gonna love it. We’re gonna take